IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 7, 2005 FSCR Steele Takes TBARA Win at SpeedWorld The TBARA made their first visit of the 2005 season to Orlando Speedworld on Friday May 6. The first heat saw J J Dutton in the 6F on the pole for the start of the race with Keith Butler in the 19 alongside on the front row. The 19 car made a better start and took the race lead at turn 1. The 75 car driven by Curtis Sutton retired to the infield on lap 4 while the 19 car went on to win the heat with Gary Gimmler in the 29 car finishing in second place. The 51 car of Mark Gimmler was on the pole for the start of the second heat race and Jim Alvis in the 29T car was starting in second place. The 5W car of Randy Woodall would not fire and the 21 car of Johnny Gilbertson pulled off before the start of the heat when the throttle got stuck. As the race went green, it was the 29T of Jim Alvis that took the lead and led from start to finish to take the heat win. Ray Bragg in the 66 car took second place. The front row of the third and final heat consisted of the 3X driven by Bo Hartley and the 91 driven by David Steele. The 91 car took the race lead at the start of the heat and held the lead to win the heat with pole starter Bo Hartley settling for second place in the 3X car. As the cars were pushed off for the 30-lap feature event, the 5W again would not fire and did not make the start of the race. After the hot laps the cars formed up with Mark Gimmler in the 51 car leading the field from the pole starting position and J J Dutton in the 6F on the outside of the front row. The front of the field made a clean start with Mark Gimmler in the 51 car taking the race lead. Further back in the pack, some contact between the 29T of Jim Alvis and another car resulted in a spin from the 29T at turn 2. The car kept running and the caution flag was not brought out, but on lap 3 the 29T retired to the infield with a broken left front. The 21T driven by Frank Erskine Jr retired on race lap 6 followed on race lap 8 by Johnny Gilbertson in the 21 car. On lap 12, there was a new race leader when the 91 driven by David Steele was able to catch and pass the 51 car. The 91 car had started the race in 5th position. The 75 car driven by Curtis Sutton retired on lap 13. On lap 14, the 29 car of Gary Gimmler hit the wall hard coming out of turn 4 after contact with another car, and the race was red flagged while the car was taken out on a flatbed and the track was cleaned. When the track was cleared of debris, the cars were refired and lined back up single file behind the 91 car for the cone restart. All cars passed cleanly by the cone on the restart and the race got back underway. There was a lot of close driving, especially when the leaders caught and passed the back markers. The 44 car driven by Bill Pettijohn retired on race lap 22 and the last retirement of the race was David Retzlaff in the number 90 on race lap 29. David Steele held onto the lead in the 91 car to win the feature, his 6th win of the season. The 51 of Mark Gimmler held on to second place, with Keith Butler in the 19 car in third, Ray Bragg in the 66 in fourth and Dude Teate making his return to the 68 car rounding out the top 5. The next TBARA event in Florida will be at Citrus County Speedway on June 4th. TBARA Orlando Speedworld, May 6, 2005 HEAT 1 1) 19 Keith Butler 2) 29 Gary Gimmler 3) 6F J J Dutton 4) 96 Todd Schmidt 5) 6X Frank Scimeca 6) 75 Curtis Sutton HEAT 2 1) 29T Jim Alvis 2) 66 Ray Bragg 3) 51 Mark Gimmler 4) 68 Dude Teate The 5W of Randy Woodall and the 21 of Johnny Gilbertson did not start the heat race HEAT 3 1) 91 David Steele 2) 3X Bo Hartley 3) 90 David Retzlaff 4) 6 Skeeter Faulconer 5) 44 Bill Pettijohn 6) 21T Frank Erskine Jr FEATURE 1) 91 David Steele; 2) 51 Mark Gimmler; 3) 19 Keith Butler; 4) 66 Ray Bragg; 5) 68 Dude Teate; 6) 6F J J Dutton; 7) 3X Bo Hartley; 8) 96 Todd Schmidt; 9) 6 Skeeter Faulconer; 10) 6X Frank Scimeca; 11) 90 David Retzlaff (DNF); 12) 44 Bill Pettijohn (DNF); 13) 29 Gary Gimmler (DNF); 14) 75 Curtis Sutton (DNF); 15) 21 Johnny Gilbertson (DNF); 16) 21T Frank Erskine Jr (DNF); 17) 29T Jim Alvis (DNF) The 5W of Randy Woodall did not start the feature race. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!